The Sunday Times to launch new iPhone app

The Sunday Times is set to launch an iPhone app in a bid to boost its digital offering.

Just a day after the paper announced plans to cut its annual budget by £4 million and reduce its 400-strong editorial team by 20 to 30 staff, the Sunday Times‘ editor John Witherow confirmed plans for a new iPhone application.

Witherow, who has been at the paper for more than 15 years, told staff that a print-only business was no longer viable and the “future was in digital”, according to reports.

The paper hopes the new Sunday Times app, which will launch “shortly”, will help boost revenues.  In the year to 28 June 2009, the Sunday Times and The Times reported combined pre-tax losses of £87.7 million amid the economic downturn.

Turnover at Times Newspapers, the News International subsidiary that publishes both titles, was down by 13.4% year on year to £385.5 million.

In less than a month, the Sunday Times will join The Times and other News International-owned titles behind an online paywall.  From June, users will be charged £1 for a day’s access to Times Online or £2 for a full week’s subscription.

The move by News International will see The Times and its sister title become the first UK papers to fully charge for online content.

The daily payment will give users access to both titles’ digital content, while the weekly subscription is set to include an e-paper and new applications.  Customers who subscribe to print versions of The Times and The Sunday Times will also be able to access the titles’ digital content.

In today’s ABC release, for April 2010, the Sunday Times recorded a 2.1% period on period increase.  However, a 7.1% year on year drop leaves it with a total of 1.1 million copies, down from 1.2 million this time last year. The Times‘ total stands at less than 507,000 copies following a 14.2% year on year loss and a slight period on period increase of 0.9%.